XXV - Hopes and Dreams

"Are you sure you'll be fine, noona?" Thunder asked her for the nth time. They are at the airport already and just waiting for Thunder to board.

After the raid, the underground had to close down and lay low for all their activities. They need a couple of days to regain everything back to normal.

Then Thunder's flight to US came. And he had been reluctant to leave because of her condition. He had tried to convince her to go back to US to have the operation. But she still refused.

"I'll be fine here. Don't worry, arasseo?" she smiled at him and ruffles his hair.

"Why are you so stubborn not to get the surgery, noona? You're condition is getting worst even if you hide it through your make up. Have you seen yourself in the mirror? You look fragile. And you going in and out of underground don’t help you at all. It'll just make it worst because of the unhealthy enviroment there. Please noona, do the operation already before it's too late. I don't want to lose you. You are my only family left," he begs trying to control his tears.

Dara smile faltered and embraces her brother. She was hurting him. She knew that. "Mianhe, Sanghyun-ah. I know what you mean. But I can't risk it. Your noona is just afraid that it will just fail in the end. I don't want to die as well. Not without living my life to the fullest. I want to left something to the people I love. I want their life to put in a better path outside the underground. They've been living in the darkness of that place for so long. I want to at least give them light to find their way to the right path. I already started with V.I and CL. The maknae found courage to reach CL and the latter found someone she truly belongs. There are more I need to do. And GD... I want him to live his life again away from pain. That if ever I leave him once again, I know there's someone who'll be there for him. Someone won't leave him ever. It's the least thing I could do," she said with tears trailing her cheeks.

"Noona..." Thunder was cut off by the announcement of his flight.

Dara distances herself from his embrace. She smiled wiping her tears.

"It's time for you to go. Be careful, neh? Call me once you landed," she said.

"I will," Thunder once again hugged her before leaving.

Dara waved her goodbye and watched his retreating back.

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The underground is unusually quiet because of the lack of activities. That raid had cost them so much. Now, they were left unproductive and stagnant.

"This is boring," Top exclaimed after losing again in their poker game.

"I agree. How many days should we go through this?" Sol said abandoning their game.

"You know, I just realized something," D-Lite leans on his chair with a faraway look. "This isn't the first time it happened. We were raided a lot of times and things still the same. But after all, I was wondering if ever we lost underground for good? What will happen to us? Where are we going?" he said. "I actually wanted to do something different from what we are doing inside this old building," he added picturing out himself with doing what he wanted to do.

"By that, what do you mean?" Sol asked quiet interested.

"I want to sing, hyung. You know like on TV's. Like those idol groups that made their fans happy," he answered.

"You want to be a singer? You'll leave underground? This is our home already. This is the only place that accepted us," Top said.

"That's not it, hyung. This place is special. It's irreplaceable. But, hyung, let's face it. Underground won't be here forever. One way or another, we are going to leave this place. We will have our own life as well. But that doesn't mean the memories will be gone also," he explained gently.

Sol and Top still and thought for a while. D-Lite makes sense. The idea is disturbing but it's the truth they all have to accept.

"How about you hyungs? What do you want to do?" the young lad asked making them think deeply.

Top always wanted to act. Before he entered underground, he remembered vividly but he always volunteered in school plays when he still young. He was